John Kasich's campaign has been pushing for weeks to form
an alliance with Ted Cruz, but remained stalled until last week, when top strategists from both camps met to work out the details during last week's Republican National Committee Meeting in Florida, a new CNN report indicates.
The talks were between Cruz's campaign manager Jeff Roe and Kasich's chief strategist, John Weaver, who made the announcement about the candidates' divide-and-conquer plans, which see Cruz backing off on Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico, while Kasich's camp will back away from Cruz in Indiana.
Kasich's camp started reaching out just after the Ohio governor won the primary in his home state — marking the only state he has won to date — but initially, Cruz's side did not respond, a senior Kasich official told CNN.
But in following weeks the talks started up, the source said, even before Trump pulled off his huge win in the New York primary.
The Florida talks were going on at the same time Cruz was calling Kasich a "spoiler," and both plan to remain competitive after the three races involved in their agreement. They are both positioning themselves for a fight for the GOP nomination in a second ballot at this summer's Republican convention, should Trump fail to gain the 1,237 committed delegates he needs to clinch the nomination outright.
Kasich says he should be the nominee because he is the only one defeating Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in potential match-up polls, while Cruz points out he is the only candidate to have defeated Trump in this season's primaries, and insists that if Trump is the nominee, Clinton will win the White House this fall.
Cruz, meanwhile, has focused on gathering delegates in individual congressional districts, despite losing statewide races, leading Trump to complain loudly that the delegate system is "rigged."
The partnership could also help Kasich financially, reports CNN, as his campaign wrapped up March with just $1.2 million left in its war chest, as donations did not come in after the Ohio governor won in his home state. Further,
key donors are staying away from the primary races, as they believe the contests remain too far up in the air to risk their money on any one of the three remaining candidates.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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